Dan Brunner is Professor of Church History and Formation. I took both of his courses of Christian history and theology and the spiritual formation course “Knowing Self, Knowing God.” These were some of my favorite classes and one of the reasons that I loved seminary as much as I did. Dan is a passionate professor, theologian, preacher, and man of prayer who lives the Christian life. I always enjoyed the devotionals that started off each class.

Dan introduced me to one of the best spiritual formation exercises was where we as a class sat for 10 minutes in silence writing out everything we desired to do for God and his kingdom. Then, we had to prioritize that list over the next 10 minutes. In that exercise, I became keenly aware of my call: to grow in love each day in my relationship with God and with others.

I especially have been inspired by Dan’s passion for truth, justice, equality, and ecology. He was a tough professor who always kept us accountable for both our successes and our failures, yet one could see that his toughness was undergirded with love. The level of accountability he instilled in me that first year stayed with me the rest of seminary. In addition, I will always appreciate Dan as a humble man who was always ready to admit to his limitations: if he didn’t know something he had no problem saying so.

Thank you, Dan, for inspiring me to enter more deeply into the life and love of the Triune God and thereby enter more deeply into God’s love for humanity and creation.